After the recent failure of two large dams containing coal ash in Tennessee and Alabama, the state Department of Environmental Protection announced today it will re-inspect all coal ash dams and ponds in Pennsylvania.

DEP Acting Secretary John Hanger said the field inspections of 10 coal ash dams large enough to require permits will be done by the end of the month and 31 other high hazard coal waste impoundments will be inspected over the next six months.

In addition, the department will inspect a Westmoreland County dam containing chemical sludge this month.

"We are committed to doing everything in our power to avoid a similar catastrophe and to protect the health and safety of Pennsylvanians living near these structures," Mr. Hanger said.

On the list of coal ash slurry dams slated for inspection this month are Little Blue Run Dam, Beaver County; Cooling Pond A, Armstrong County; Mill Service No. 6, Westmoreland County; Holtwood Ash Basin No. 2, Lancaster County; Montour Ash Basin, Montour County; Martin's Creek Ash Basin No. 1 and Martin Creek Ash Basin No. 4, Northampton County; Sunbury Ash Pond Nos. 1, 2 and 3, Snyder County; and Brunner Island Ash Basin No. 6, York County.

Little Blue Run is the biggest coal ash dam in the East, covering 1,300 acres -- 30 times bigger than the Tennessee Valley Authority ash dam in eastern Tennessee that ruptured Dec. 22 and sent 1.1 billion gallons of coal ash sludge through communities and into the Emory River.